


The Adventure

by Lorren



Category: Divergent Series - Veronica Roth
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Medieval, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-03
Updated: 2015-04-03
Packaged: 2018-03-21 02:50:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3674643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lorren/pseuds/Lorren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beatrice Prior is the daughter of an earl in a Medieval kingdom.  Her father has arranged for her to marry the son of a nearby earl, Robert Black; Beatrice is not interested in marrying someone that she doesn't love.  She uses her skills as a fighter to leave and find her own life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Adventure

**Beatrice**

Today I leave my home.

My father is an earl in our kingdom. He helps govern the land, along with all of the other earls, and reports to King Marcus. My parents want me to marry Robert, the son of another earl in another part of the kingdom. I’ve met him a couple of times. He seems okay and everything, but I just don’t want that kind of life for myself.

In our kingdom, after children finish learning how to read and write, everybody has to learn a trade. Well, everybody whose parents are not peasants, at least. You can learn music, science, selflessness, honesty, or fighting. I chose to learn to fight, despite my father’s wishes for me to learn selflessness. It wasn’t easy, especially because I’m small, but I passed. I learned how to use all sorts of weapons and wear armor. It’s not a necessary skill for an earl’s daughter, but the kingdom figures that you never know what will happen, so they want you to be able to do something, just in case.

When my father told me that he arranged for me to marry Robert, I decided that it was time to leave. King Marcus’s son did, for unknown reasons, a couple of years ago, and nobody has seen or heard from him since. I figure that a life of adventure is preferable to a boring life marrying somebody I barely know, and eventually becoming an earl’s wife.

I wake up early, put on some simple clothes, and start to walk to the local village.

I see Todd Campbell, one of the local peasants, on my way out.

“Beatrice Prior!” he says to me. “What has you up and about so early in the morning?”

“Just running a couple of errands this morning!” I say cheerfully. I could have never gone to Candor School to learn honesty. “How are your two little ones?”

“Little Eden is sick,” he says. “Colin is recovering from this plague that’s been going around though. Thank you for asking!”

The manor is fairly self-sufficient. It has farmers, like Todd, a blacksmith, cooks, and every other kind of worker that you would need to stay alive in the event of war. Sometimes, however, it is still necessary to go to the village. I usually take a horse there, but sometimes, like today, I walk. Most people don’t know me in the village. When I’m dressed simply, like I am today, very few people would recognize me as an earl’s daughter.

It’s shortly after lunchtime before I reach the village. I head to the armorer’s shop. An old lady is standing behind the counter. “Hello,” she says.

“Hello,” I say. “I’d like to buy a chain mail shirt.”

She eyes me warily. “Are you sure you can handle it? It’s pretty heavy.”

“Yes ma’am. I went to fighter school.”

“It’s your money,” she says skeptically. She reaches under the counter and grabs a tape measure. She measures my shoulder, and my waist, and my height. “I think I might have something in a kid’s size.”

“That’s fine.”

“That will be 50 gold,” she says. “Are you sure that you have that?”

“Yes ma’am.” I pull out my money pouch and count out the money.

“I guess that it’s none of my business where someone as small as you got so much money.”

“No, it’s not.” The less people know about who I am, the better.

I get similar treatment at the weaponsmith’s shop. At least they don’t know who I am. Once I have all my supplies, I head to the local tavern to get some lunch, and maybe find some work.

I sit down at a table, and grab some chicken, bread, and a glass of ale. We usually drink wine at the manor, but I’m trying to distance myself from that life, and adventurers tend to drink ale.

As I eat, I watch a wealthy merchant enter. I’m sure that he’s not as wealthy as my parents, but he has more money than I currently have on my own.

“Do you know of anybody looking for work?” I hear the merchant ask the bartender.

“Not at the moment,” the bartender replies. “What are you hiring for?”

“I’m looking for a few adventurers to go to Port Greenrock with me,” he says. “I have some cargo that I need to protect along the way. It should be a few days’ journey. I’m offering a few gold for the trouble.”

I pick up my metal tin with my food on it and sit next down to the merchant. “I’ll go,” I say.

He laughs. “What makes you think that you are capable?”

“I was first in my class at fighter school. Besides, if I don’t make it, you don’t pay, and you’re not out anything, correct?”

He claps his hand on my shoulder. “You are correct,” he says. “I guess I’ll give you a chance. What’s your name?”

“It’s –” I don’t want to give away my real name – “Tris.”

“Well, Tris, we’ll get going once we find a few more adventurers.”

I smile. My first job! I’m looking forward to it.

A man sits down next to me. He has dark brown hair and dark blue eyes. Handsome. “I’d like to go too.”

“Very well,” the merchant says. “I can use another fighting fellow. What’s your name?”

“Four.”

“Interesting name.” Four shrugs.

“Hi, I’m Tris,” I say to him.

“Hmm…” is all he says back to me.

 _Friendly guy_ , I think.

 

In about an hour, we are joined by Aural, one of those nature-loving druid types, and a half-elf magic user named Will. The merchant, who introduces himself as Rollo, shows us the cart that we’re going to be guarding: a few crates.

“There’s only room for a couple of you on the wagon,” Rollo says. “Any of you know how to ride a horse? You can ride Bella.”

“I do.” I take a look at the horse. Bella is a beautiful beige mare. I brush my hands along its mane. “Hello,” I say to it. Bella whinnies softly in response. I climb on Bella’s back. Aural climbs up behind me. Four sits up in the front of the wagon with Rollo. Will rides in the back of the wagon.

After we leave the village, the road is pretty quiet. Rollo falls asleep as Four drives.

“I heard that there have been kobolds spotted along this road lately,” Will comments. Kobolds are small creatures that like to ambush people at night.

“Really?” Aural asks.

“Yeah. Why else do you to think that this guy was willing to give us a month’s pay for a few days’ worth of work? There aren’t that many bandits on the roads these days.”

The horses plod on quietly for a while. “So what brings you all on this trip?” Will asks, breaking the silence. “I need some experience so I can find a powerful mage to apprentice with.”

“I need the money,” Aural says. “I have to feed my family.”

I have to think of a lie. The closer that I come to the truth, the easier it will be to remember. “I went to fighter school. If we ever have war, I’ll be expected to fight. I need the practice.”

“What about you, Four?” Will asks.

“Does it matter?” Four says. “I’m here now.”

Will shrugs.

Rollo wakes up from his nap a couple of hours later. When evening falls, he directs us to a camp near a river. I dismount Bella and hand her reins to Rollo.

“Who wants to take what watch?” Will asks.

“I’ll take first watch,” I say.

“Second,” Four comments.

“I’ll take last watch,” Aural says. “I guess that leaves you with third watch, Will.”

We build a fire and cook some food for dinner. After we finish dinner, we put the fire out. While fires are nice for the warmth, if there are bandits, or even kobolds, in the area, then we don’t want to give away our location.

“Good night all,” Roland says, stretching, after the fire has gone out. “I trust that you’ll keep things safe this evening.”

“Have a good night,” I say.

The night air is starting to feel a little chilly, so I pull my cloak out of my pack. We unroll our bedrolls. Everyone else lies down, but I have to stay awake for a few hours to make sure that we stay safe.

“Good night everyone,” Aural says.

“Good night,” Will and I respond. Four is quiet. He’s not very talkative.

For the next few hours, I sit on a rock on a hill overlooking the camp. Everything seems quiet. I don’t see any signs of kobolds or bandits. I investigate a noise in the bushes after a while, but it turns out to be a rabbit.

When my watch is over, I go to wake up Four. I hope that he’s not hard to wake up; he’s not that friendly when he’s awake. I shake him on his shoulder.

“Your turn,” I say quietly.

He reflexively grabs a knife. “Hey, we’re on the same side,” I whisper.

He looks at me, now aware of his surroundings. His dark blue eyes are handsome. “Sorry,” he whispers.

“It’s okay. Have a good watch.” I crawl into my bed and fall asleep.

Someone is shaking my shoulder. It’s still dark outside. It’s Four. “You need to wake up,” he says. “We have company. Kobolds.” I grab my weapons and get ready.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a little bit different, and is partially based on a Friday night role playing game that I'm currently doing with some friends (I'm playing Tris). I hope that you like it. Comments are welcome.


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